This ballooning of the notional value of derivatives and swaps was not accompanied by a comparable growth in actual economic activity. As we have learned, the financial wizards weren't creating value, but simply churning their customers and pocketing inflated fees from the transactions.

In the years that followed, of course, banking became anything but boring. Wheeling and dealing flourished, and pay scales in finance shot up, drawing in many of the nation’s best and brightest young people (O.K., I’m not so sure about the “best” part). And we were assured that our supersized financial sector was the key to prosperity.Instead, however, finance turned into the monster that ate the world economy.

The monster grew so fearsome that it even took a bite out of Warren Buffet. It's time to tame it.